Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentine's Day Candle Mat and Table Runner

Pinterest and Craftsy have been so inspiring for me! And a bit addicting, as I am sure they probably are for most of you too. When looking for valentines day projects I started with fabric before I decided what to make. While on a trip to Joann's If found some great flannel solids on sale so I bought four colors of pink and then white as well. Next I set out cutting squares out, I did all my cutting first and then started creating patchwork heart sets. I decided on making a table runner and a candle mat. For the candle mat it was pretty simple, I just took the heart block patter consisting of squares and half square triangles and sewed them together and then added the backing, backing, and binding. I did stitch in the ditch, with my decorative heart stitch around the heart shape for quilting.

The table runner consisted of three of the heart squares, each with a different background color and heart color. Then I used white sashing and a white backing and binding. I stitched in the ditch around the hearts on this as well, but I also added some decorative heart stitching on the sashing, utilizing pink thread to help it stand out.

If I were to re-do the table runner I would have put the hearts side by side, horizontally instead of up and down, vertically as they are in the picture below. However, for my first attempts at sewing with flannel while doing patchwork I felt pretty good about these two projects.

About Me

Hi, my name is Katie! Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog.
Some things to know about me:
I have a wonderful husband and an incredibly adorable baby boy. My full-time job is as a Career Counselor for high school and adult students who are obtaining career and technical education training.
I started quilting in November of 2012 after taking Quilting 101 at a Joann's Fabric, and then began to follow online tutorials (usually from the great Mrs. Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company). I have been addicted ever since and love to create quilts, wall hangings, bags, and more.
As my husband will attest though, please don't ask me to sew a button on clothes, repair a ripped pair of jeans, or hem a pair of pants. That just isn't fun and I'm not interested.
I am so excited to share what I make with everyone and hope that I inspire others to get into quilting or at least try something out on a sewing machine. Honestly, until my quilting 101 class I probably had only touched a sewing machine once or twice and it has been one of the easiest things to learn with the right teachers and time!